scholarly journals Atmospheric deposition as a source of carbon and nutrients to an alpine catchment of the Colorado Rocky Mountains

2012 ◽  
Vol 9 (8) ◽  
pp. 3337-3355 ◽  
Author(s):  
N. Mladenov ◽  
M. W. Williams ◽  
S. K. Schmidt ◽  
K. Cawley

Abstract. Many alpine areas are experiencing deglaciation, biogeochemical changes driven by temperature rise, and changes in atmospheric deposition. There is mounting evidence that the water quality of alpine streams may be related to these changes, including rising atmospheric deposition of carbon (C) and nutrients. Given that barren alpine soils can be severely C limited, atmospheric deposition sources may be an important source of C and nutrients for these environments. We evaluated the magnitude of atmospheric deposition of C and nutrients to an alpine site, the Green Lake 4 catchment in the Colorado Rocky Mountains. Using a long-term dataset (2002–2010) of weekly atmospheric wet deposition and snowpack chemistry, we found that volume weighted mean dissolved organic carbon (DOC) concentrations were 1.12 ± 0.19 mg l−1, and weekly concentrations reached peaks as high at 6–10 mg l−1 every summer. Total dissolved nitrogen concentration also peaked in the summer, whereas total dissolved phosphorus and calcium concentrations were highest in the spring. To investigate potential sources of C in atmospheric deposition, we evaluated the chemical quality of dissolved organic matter (DOM) and relationships between DOM and other solutes in wet deposition. Relationships between DOC concentration, fluorescence, and nitrate and sulfate concentrations suggest that pollutants from nearby urban and agricultural sources and organic aerosols derived from sub-alpine vegetation may influence high summer DOC wet deposition concentrations. Interestingly, high DOC concentrations were also recorded during "dust-in-snow" events in the spring, which may reflect an association of DOM with dust. Detailed chemical and spectroscopic analyses conducted for samples collected in 2010 revealed that the DOM in many late spring and summer samples was less aromatic and polydisperse and of lower molecular weight than that of winter and fall samples. Our C budget estimates for the Green Lake 4 catchment illustrated that wet deposition (9.9 kg C ha−1 yr−1) and dry deposition (6.9 kg C ha−1 yr−1) were a combined input of approximately 17 kg C ha−1 yr−1, which could be as high as 24 kg C ha−1 yr−1 in high dust years. This atmospheric C input approached the C input from microbial autotrophic production in barren soils. Atmospheric wet and dry deposition also contributed 4.3 kg N ha−1 yr−1, 0.15 kg P ha−1 yr−1, and 2.7 kg Ca2+ ha−1 yr−1 to this alpine catchment.

2012 ◽  
Vol 9 (3) ◽  
pp. 2375-2424 ◽  
Author(s):  
N. Mladenov ◽  
M. W. Williams ◽  
S. K. Schmidt ◽  
K. Cawley

Abstract. Many alpine areas are experiencing intense deglaciation, biogeochemical changes driven by temperature rise, and changes in atmospheric deposition. There is mounting evidence that the water quality of alpine streams may be related to these changes, including rising atmospheric deposition of carbon (C) and nutrients. Given that barren alpine soils can be severely C limited, we evaluated the magnitude and chemical quality of atmospheric deposition of C and nutrients to an alpine site, the Green Lake 4 catchment in the Colorado Rocky Mountains. Using a long term dataset (2002–2010) of weekly atmospheric wet deposition and snowpack chemistry, we found that volume weighted mean dissolved organic carbon (DOC) concentrations were approximately 1.0 mg L−1and weekly concentrations reached peaks as high at 6–10 mg L−1 every summer. Total dissolved nitrogen concentration also peaked in the summer, whereas total dissolved phosphorus and calcium concentrations were highest in the spring. Relationships among DOC concentration, dissolved organic matter (DOM) fluorescence properties, and nitrate and sulfate concentrations suggest that pollutants from nearby urban and agricultural sources and organic aerosols derived from sub-alpine vegetation may influence high summer DOC wet deposition concentrations. Interestingly, high DOC concentrations were also recorded during "dust-in-snow" events in the spring. Detailed chemical and spectroscopic analyses conducted for samples collected in 2010 revealed that the DOM in many late spring and summer samples was less aromatic and polydisperse and of lower molecular weight than that of winter and fall samples and, therefore, likely to be more bioavailable to microbes in barren alpine soils. Bioavailability experiments with different types of atmospheric C sources are needed to better evaluate the substrate quality of atmospheric C inputs. Our C budget estimates for the Green Lake 4 catchment suggest that atmospheric deposition represents an average input of approximately 13 kg C ha−1 yr−1 that could be as high as 24 kg C ha−1 yr−1 in high dust years and approaches that of autotrophic C fixation in barren soils.


2016 ◽  
Author(s):  
Karin Haglund ◽  
Björn Claremar ◽  
Anna Rutgersson

Abstract. The shipping sector contributes significantly to increasing emissions of air pollutants. In order to achieve sustainable shipping, primarily through new regulations and techniques, greater knowledge of dispersion and deposition of air pollutants is required. Regional model calculations of the dispersion and deposition of sulphur, nitrogen and particulate matter from the international maritime sector in the Baltic Sea and the North Sea have been made for the years 2009 to 2013. In some areas in the Baltic Sea region the contribution of sulphur dioxide, nitrogen oxide and nitrogen dioxide from international shipping represented up to 80 % of the total near surface concentration of the pollutants. Contributions from shipping of PM2,5 and PM10 were calculated to a maximum of 21 % and 13 % respectively. The contribution of wet deposition of sulphur from shipping was maximum 29 % of the total wet deposition, and for dry deposition the contribution from shipping was maximum 84 %. The highest percentage contribution of wet deposition of nitrogen from shipping reached 28 % and for dry deposition 47 %. The highest concentrations and deposition of the pollutants in the study were found near large ports and shipping lanes. High concentrations were also found over larger areas at sea and over land where many people are exposed. With enhanced regulations for sulphur content in maritime fuel, the cleaning of exhausts through scrubbers has become a possible economic solution. Wet scrubbers meet the air quality criteria but their consequences for the marine environment are largely unknown. The resulting potential of future acidification in the Baltic Sea, both from atmospheric deposition and from open-loop scrubber water along the shipping lanes, based on different assumptions about sulphur content in fuel and scrubber usage has been assessed. Shipping is expected to increase globally and in the Baltic Sea region, deposition of sulphur due to shipping will depend on traffic density, emission regulations and technology choices for the emission controls. To evaluate future changes scenarios are developed considering the amount of scrubber technology used. The increase in deposition for the different scenarios differs slightly for the basins in the Baltic Sea. The proportion of ocean acidifying sulphur from ships increases when taking scrubber water into account and the major reason to increasing acidifying nitrogen from ships are due to increasing ship traffic. This study also generates a database of scenarios for atmospheric deposition and scrubber exhaust from the period 2011 to 2050.


2019 ◽  
Author(s):  
Ke Dong ◽  
Cheolwoon Woo ◽  
Naomichi Yamamoto

Abstract. Plants disperse spores, pollen, and fragments into the atmosphere. The emitted plant particles return to the pedosphere by sedimentation (dry deposition) and/or by precipitation (wet deposition) and constitute part of the global cycle of substances. However, little is known regarding the taxonomic diversities and flux densities of plant particles deposited from the atmosphere. Here, plant assemblages were examined in atmospheric deposits collected in Seoul in South Korea. A custom-made automatic sampler was used to collect dry and wet deposition samples for which plant assemblages and quantities were determined using high-throughput sequencing and quantitative PCR with universal plant-specific primers targeting the internal transcribed spacer 2 (ITS2) region. Dry deposition was dominant for atmospheric deposition of plant particles (87 %). The remaining 13 % was deposited by precipitation, i.e., wet deposition, via rainout (in-cloud scavenging) and/or washout (below-cloud scavenging). Plant assemblage structures did not differ significantly between dry and wet deposition, indicating that washout, which is likely taxon-independent, predominated rainout, which is likely taxon-dependent, for wet deposition of atmospheric plant particles. A small number of plant genera were detected only in wet deposition, indicating that they might be specifically involved in precipitation through acting as nucleation sites in the atmosphere. Future interannual monitoring will control for the seasonality of atmospheric plant assemblages observed at our sampling site. Future global monitoring is also proposed to investigate geographical differences and investigate whether endemic species are involved in plant-mediated bioprecipitation in regional ecological systems.


2014 ◽  
Vol 11 (19) ◽  
pp. 5621-5635 ◽  
Author(s):  
C. Guieu ◽  
C. Ridame ◽  
E. Pulido-Villena ◽  
M. Bressac ◽  
K. Desboeufs ◽  
...  

Abstract. By bringing new nutrients and particles to the surface ocean, atmospheric deposition impacts biogeochemical cycles. The extent to which those changes are modifying the carbon balance in oligotrophic environments such as the Mediterranean Sea that receives important Saharan dust fluxes is unknown. The DUNE (DUst experiment in a low Nutrient, low chlorophyll Ecosystem) project provides the first attempt to evaluate the changes induced in the carbon budget of a large body of oligotrophic waters after simulated Saharan dust wet or dry deposition events, allowing us to measure (1) the metabolic fluxes while the particles are sinking and (2) the particulate organic carbon export. Here we report the results for the three distinct artificial dust seeding experiments simulating wet or dry atmospheric deposition onto large mesocosms (52 m3) that were conducted in the oligotrophic waters of the Mediterranean Sea in the summers of 2008 and 2010. Although heterotrophic bacteria were found to be the key players in the response to dust deposition, net primary production increased about twice in case of simulated wet deposition (that includes anthropogenic nitrogen). The dust deposition did not produce a shift in the metabolic balance as the tested waters remained net heterotrophic (i.e., net primary production to bacteria respiration ratio <1) and in some cases the net heterotrophy was even enhanced by the dust deposition. The change induced by the dust addition on the total organic carbon pool inside the mesocosm over the 7 days of the experiments, was a carbon loss dominated by bacteria respiration that was at least 5–10 times higher than any other term involved in the budget. This loss of organic carbon from the system in all the experiments was particularly marked after the simulation of wet deposition. Changes in biomass were mostly due to an increase in phytoplankton biomass but when considering the whole particulate organic carbon pool it was dominated by the organic carbon aggregated to the lithogenic particles still in suspension in the mesocosm at the end of the experiment. Assuming that the budget is balanced, the dissolved organic carbon (DOC) pool was estimated by the difference between the total organic carbon and the particulate organic carbon (POC) pool. The partitioning between dissolved and particulate organic carbon was dominated by the dissolved pool with a DOC consumption over 7 days of ∼1 μmol C L−1 d−1 (dry deposition) to ∼2–5 μmol C L−1 d−1 (wet deposition). This consumption in the absence of any allochthonous inputs in the closed mesocosms meant a small <10% decrease of the initial DOC stock after a dry deposition but a ∼30–40% decrease of the initial DOC stock after wet deposition. After wet deposition, the tested waters, although dominated by heterotrophy, were still maintaining a net export (corrected from controls) of particulate organic carbon (0.5 g in 7 days) even in the absence of allochthonous carbon inputs. This tentative assessment of the changes in carbon budget induced by a strong dust deposition indicates that wet deposition by bringing new nutrients has higher impact than dry deposition in oligotrophic environments. In the western Mediterranean Sea, the mineral dust deposition is dominated by wet deposition and one perspective of this work is to extrapolate our numbers to time series of deposition during similar oligotrophic conditions to evaluate the overall impact on the carbon budget at the event and seasonal scale in the surface waters of the northwestern Mediterranean Sea. These estimated carbon budgets are also highlighting the key processes (i.e., bacterial respiration) that need to be considered for an integration of atmospheric deposition in marine biogeochemical modeling.


2017 ◽  
Vol 122 (20) ◽  
pp. 11,183-11,200 ◽  
Author(s):  
Kaley M. Oldani ◽  
Natalie Mladenov ◽  
Mark W. Williams ◽  
Cari M. Campbell ◽  
David A. Lipson

2002 ◽  
Vol 36 (14) ◽  
pp. 2337-2348 ◽  
Author(s):  
David W. Clow ◽  
George P. Ingersoll ◽  
M.Alisa Mast ◽  
John T. Turk ◽  
Donald H. Campbell

2014 ◽  
Vol 11 (7) ◽  
pp. 1833-1846 ◽  
Author(s):  
J.-Y. T. Yang ◽  
S.-C. Hsu ◽  
M. H. Dai ◽  
S. S.-Y. Hsiao ◽  
S.-J. Kao

Abstract. Increased reactive nitrogen (Nr, NO3− &amp;plus; NH4&amp;plus;+ &amp;plus; dissolved organic nitrogen) emission from the Asian continent poses profound threats to ecosystem safety from terrestrial throughout the ocean proper. To quantify atmospheric Nr input, diagnose its sources, and evaluate influence on marine nitrogen cycle of the South China Sea (SCS), an oligotrophic marginal sea adjacent to the emission hot spot China, we conducted measurements of concentrations of nitrate and ammonium as well as other major ions and dual isotopes of nitrate (δ15NNO3 and δ18ONO3) in atmospheric deposition collected from Dongsha Island off southern China. The δ15NNO3 and δ18ONO3 for dry deposition averaged at −2.8‰ and +58.8‰, ranging from −7.5 to +3.7‰ and from ∼ +17 to +88‰, respectively. Wet deposition, although with limited samples, showed a similar flux-weighted mean in δ15NNO3 (−2.6‰) yet a significantly higher mean in δ18ONO3 (+78.8‰). The dual isotope ratios showed an anti-correlation and an inverse seasonality; the δ15NNO3 values were higher in summer compared to those in winter, while the δ18ONO3 values were higher in winter than those in summer. In winter, not only dual isotopic compositions of nitrate but also the ammonium and nitrate dry deposition fluxes were relatively uniform, demonstrating a persistent influence of fossil fuel combustion sourced from Asian continental outflows via the northeasterly monsoon winds. More variable isotopic values in summer likely suggest varying sources and dynamical formation processes of dry deposition nitrate. Biomass burning and lightning are suggested to be responsible for the observed higher δ15NNO3 values in summer. Atmospheric nitrate and ammonium deposition together was estimated to be ∼50 mmol N m−2 year−1, with the dominance of nitrate in dry deposition but ammonium slightly higher in wet deposition. If not including this additional fertilization of atmospheric inorganic nitrogen deposition to enhance the carbon sequestration, CO2 release out of the SCS would be double than that of the present amount, 460 ± 430 mmol C m−2 year−1. Our study demonstrates that atmospheric deposition may serve as an important external Nr supplier to the SCS; however it is difficult to separate the isotopic signal from N2 fixation (−2–0‰) due to their similarity in δ15NNO3. More studies related to isotopic composition of nitrogen speciation in atmospheric Nr deposition, their relative contributions and source identification, and the role of typhoons in the SCS are required.


The Holocene ◽  
2019 ◽  
Vol 30 (4) ◽  
pp. 589-596 ◽  
Author(s):  
Amy Bigelow ◽  
Natalie Mladenov ◽  
David Lipson ◽  
Mark Williams

In barren alpine catchments of the Colorado Rocky Mountains, microorganisms are typically carbon (C)-limited, and C-limitation can influence critical heterotrophic processes, such as denitrification. In these remote locations, organic matter deposited during dust intrusion events and other forms of aerosol deposition may be an important C source for heterotrophs; however, little is known regarding the biodegradability of atmospherically deposited organic matter. This study evaluated the extent to which organic matter in Holocene dust and other types of atmospheric deposition in the Colorado Rocky Mountains could support metabolic activity and be biodegraded by alpine bacteria. Microplate bioassays revealed that all atmospheric deposition samples were able to activate microbial metabolism. Decreases in dissolved organic carbon (DOC) concentrations over time in biodegradability incubations reflect the presence of two pools of dissolved organic matter (DOM), a rapidly decaying pool with rate constants in the range of 0.0130–0.039 d–1 and a slowly decaying pool with rate constants in the range of 0.0008–0.009 d–1. Changes in the fluorescence excitation-emission matrix of solutions evaluated over time indicated a transformation of organic matter by bacteria resulting in a more humic-like fluorescence signature. Fluorescence spectroscopic analyses, therefore, suggest that the degradation of non-fluorescent DOM in glutamate and dust-derived C sources by bacteria results in the production of fluorescent DOM.


2017 ◽  
Vol 8 (4) ◽  
pp. 901-919 ◽  
Author(s):  
Björn Claremar ◽  
Karin Haglund ◽  
Anna Rutgersson

Abstract. The shipping sector is a significant contributor to emissions of air pollutants in marine and coastal regions. In order to achieve sustainable shipping, primarily through new regulations and techniques, greater knowledge of dispersion and deposition of air pollutants is required. Regional model calculations of the dispersion and concentration of sulfur, nitrogen, and particulate matter, as well as deposition of oxidized sulfur and nitrogen from the international maritime sector in the Baltic Sea and the North Sea, have been made for the years 2011 to 2013. The contribution from shipping is highest along shipping lanes and near large ports for concentration and dry deposition. Sulfur is the most important pollutant coupled to shipping. The contribution of both SO2 concentration and dry deposition of sulfur represented up to 80 % of the total in some regions. WHO guidelines for annual concentrations were not trespassed for any analysed pollutant, other than PM2.5 in the Netherlands, Belgium, and central Poland. However, due to the resolution of the numerical model, 50 km  ×  50 km, there may be higher concentrations locally close to intense shipping lanes. Wet deposition is more spread and less sensitive to model resolution. The contribution of wet deposition of sulfur and nitrogen from shipping was up to 30 % of the total wet deposition. Comparison of simulated to measured concentration at two coastal stations close to shipping lanes showed some underestimations and missed maximums, probably due to resolution of the model and underestimated ship emissions. A change in regulation for maximum sulfur content in maritime fuel, in 2015 from 1 to 0.1 %, decreases the atmospheric sulfur concentration and deposition significantly. However, due to costs related to refining, the cleaning of exhausts through scrubbers has become a possible economic solution. Open-loop scrubbers meet the air quality criteria but their consequences for the marine environment are largely unknown. The resulting potential of future acidification in the Baltic Sea, both from atmospheric deposition and from scrubber water along the shipping lanes, based on different assumptions about sulfur content in fuel, scrubber usage, and increased shipping density has been assessed. The increase in deposition for different shipping and scrubber scenarios differs for the basins in the Baltic Sea, with highest potential of acidification in the southern basins with high traffic. The proportion of ocean-acidifying sulfur from ships increases when taking scrubber water into account and the major reason for increasing acidifying nitrogen from ships is increasing ship traffic. Also, with the implementation of emission control for nitrogen, the effect of scrubbers on acidification is evident. This study also generates a database of shipping and scrubber scenarios for atmospheric deposition and scrubber exhaust from the period 2011 to 2050.


2015 ◽  
Vol 15 (2) ◽  
pp. 951-972 ◽  
Author(s):  
Y. P. Pan ◽  
Y. S. Wang

Abstract. Atmospheric deposition is considered to be a major process that removes pollutants from the atmosphere and an important source of nutrients and contaminants for ecosystems. Trace elements (TEs), especially toxic metals deposited on plants and into soil or water, can cause substantial damage to the environment and human health due to their transfer and accumulation in food chains. Despite public concerns, quantitative knowledge of metal deposition from the atmosphere to ecosystems remains scarce. To advance our understanding of the spatiotemporal variations in the magnitudes, pathways, compositions and impacts of atmospherically deposited TEs, precipitation (rain and snow) and dry-deposited particles were collected simultaneously at 10 sites in Northern China from December 2007 to November 2010. The measurements showed that the wet and dry depositions of TEs in the target areas were orders of magnitude higher than previous observations within and outside China, generating great concern over the potential risks. The spatial distribution of the total (wet plus dry) deposition flux was consistent with that of the dry deposition, with a significant decrease from industrial and urban areas to suburban, agricultural and rural sites, while the wet deposition exhibited less spatial variation. In addition, the seasonal variation of wet deposition was also different from that of dry deposition, although they were both governed by the precipitation and emission patterns. For the majority of TEs that exist as coarse particles, dry deposition dominated the total flux at each site. This was not the case for potassium, nickel, arsenic, lead, zinc, cadmium, selenium, silver and thallium, for which the relative importance between wet and dry deposition fluxes varied by site. Whether wet deposition is the major atmospheric cleansing mechanism for the TEs depends on the size distribution of the particles. We found that atmospheric inputs of copper, lead, zinc, cadmium, arsenic and selenium were of the same magnitude as their increases in the topsoil of agricultural systems. At a background forest site in Northern China, the total deposition flux of lead observed in this study (14.1 mg m−2 yr−1) was twice that of the critical load calculated for temperate forest ecosystems in Europe. These findings provide baseline data needed for future targeting policies to protect various ecosystems from long-term heavy metal input via atmospheric deposition.


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